J.J. Abrams' Superman: Flyby Storyboards Revealed
A bittersweet look at what Superman ALMOST did on screen. https://t.co/qqDhNVTIZZ
- CinemaBlend (@CinemaBlend) June 22, 2019
Attempting to revive the, at that time, dormant Superman franchise, Superman: Flyby was set to be a 2004 release for Warner Bros, with J.J. Abrams writing a Superman origin story that would have seen our hero fighting against Ty-Zor, a newly created villain for the film.
J.J. Abrams was hot off of the success of Alias & he was seen as the guy to bring Superman back to the big screen, which led to Charlie’s Angels director McG being selected as the first choice to direct the film.
McG's fear of flying preventing him from making a crucial Warner Bros. meeting. Which eventually led to Brett Ratner’s hiring as director.
Should Ratner’s film have gone forward, we’d have potentially seen either Josh Hartnett or Jude Law as Superman; Christopher Walken as Perry White; and Anthony Hopkins as Jor-El, Superman’s father.
Then Brett Ratner was fired & McG was back in the director's chair, only to see him leave the project yet again.
At this point, Warner Bros decided to go with the Superman Returns film, and Henry Cavill would start his journey to eventually becoming Superman, thanks to shooting some test footage under McG’s time.
ONTD: would this have been as big a mess as the Nick Cage Superman movie?
Sources: the CinemaBlend tweet CinemaBlend